“Look up, look down, look around,” Maria Cornejo said, quoting the one-sheet on her new Pre-Fall collection. “It’s about being present,” she added. Easier said than done for designers who are constantly working six months ahead or even longer. How do you focus on the now when you’re constantly having to divine the future? That’s a question far too big to tackle here, but Cornejo’s own future looks bright. Things are going well enough for her independent label that she’s considering expanding its retail footprint.
As for her Pre-Fall lineup, it made the most of previous hits, recutting a favorite dress with asymmetrical sleeves in a new fabric, say, or altering the silhouette of signature and top-selling jumpsuits, while also pushing new ideas. The most exciting of those new proposals was the way she handled fashion’s current boudoir trend. Lacy, silky slip dresses aren’t Cornejo’s thing; instead she romanced the humble bathrobe, cutting it into an evening coat in a spongy, slightly opalescent quilted silk. A shorter kimono-style wrap jacket in black looked equally cool. Cloud jacquards and prints of stones inspired by her theme were handled subtly—literal, cartoonish prints are not her style, either—but a stone-print halter top paired with a graphic knit tube skirt didn’t fail to pack a punch.
